Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless communication and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for allocating resources in a wireless communication system.
Related Art
3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (hereinafter referred to as LTE) is a wireless communication system standard. In LTE, when resources are allocated to a terminal, a Resource Block (RB) or a Resource Block Group (RBG) is used as a resource allocation unit. An RB consists of 7 or 6 Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols contiguous in a time domain and 12 subcarriers in a frequency domain. The number of RBs included in an RBG is determined by a system band. Furthermore, if a Distributed Virtual Resource Block (DVRB) method of distributing and allocating RBs is used, required parameters are also determined based on a system band.
Meanwhile, in the future wireless communication system, such a conventional resource allocation method may not be identically used. For example, 3GPP Long Term Evolution-Advanced (hereinafter referred to as LTE-A) is the next-generation wireless communication system standard improved from LTE. In LTE-A, a low-price/low-specification terminal chiefly performing data communication, such as the metering of a meter, the measurement of a water level, the utilization of a surveillance camera, and a report on the inventory of a vending machine, may be supported. A low-price/low-specification terminal chiefly performing communication for a small amount of data as described above is called a Machine Type Communication (MTC) device. In the case of an MTC device, it may be sufficient if only part of a system band has only to be allocated because the amount of data transmitted is small.
If only part of a system band is allocated to a specific terminal, such as an MTC device, there is a need for a resource allocation method in which how the system band will be efficiently allocated is considered and an apparatus using such a method.